100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America

Posted on May 2, 2016.

In celebration of Mother’s Day, the most popular day to dine out for brunch, OpenTable today unveiled the 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America. These awards reflect the combined opinions of more than 5 million restaurant reviews submitted by verified OpenTable diners for more than 20,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

From restaurants serving traditional dishes and lavish buffets to those making fried chicken and waffles and plant-forward fare synonymous with brunch, the complete list features winning restaurants in 26 states and Washington, D.C., and includes Balthazar in New York, Gracias Madre in West Hollywood, and Yardbird Southern Table & Bar in Miami Beach. New York, arguably the birthplace of brunch as we have come to know and love it, comes out on top with 20 winning restaurants, followed by California with 16, Maryland with nine and Illinois with six. Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. boast five apiece, while North Carolina and Texas have four each. Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Virginia all have three winners, and Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, and Oregon have two each. Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington state are also represented.
American fare, which is closely associated with local farm-to-table ingredients, is extremely popular at the winning restaurants, as are French and seafood-driven menus. However, a variety of cuisines are present including dim sum, Creole, Hawaiian, Latin/Spanish, Low Country, Mexican, and vegetarian.

“Brunch is a delicious way to savor the day on Mother’s Day or any weekend,” said OpenTable Chief Dining Officer, Caroline Potter. “Whether it’s for diners seeking kid-friendly food for their families or a fun, relaxing meal with friends, restaurants are putting out some of their most sublime creations during the day, and more and more, we’re seeing seasonal and on-trend ingredients making their way into mouthwatering brunch dishes and refreshing daytime cocktails.”

The 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America list is generated from more than 5 million restaurant reviews submitted by verified OpenTable diners between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016. All restaurants with a minimum “overall” score and number of qualifying reviews were included for consideration. Qualifying restaurants were then sorted according to a score calculated from each restaurant’s average rating in the “brunch” category.

Based on this methodology, the following restaurants, listed in alphabetical order, comprise the 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America according to OpenTable diners.